power in "formulating policy" for 80
percent or more of our parties with relatively high
confidence (see Tables 10.5a and 10.5b). In nearly half
these parties, policy formulation is centralized in the
national committee. In another quarter, this function is
entrusted to the party leader himself or a small group of
leaders. Of the remaining quarter of the parties, almost all
reserve the major role of policy formulation for a national
congress or convention. Very few parties occupy the more
decentralized positions on the scale, suggesting that there
are definite empirical limitations to decentralization in
policy formulation regardless of the conceptual
possibilities.

Basic
Variable 9.06: Controlling
Communications*

Control of communications or
information flow is often cited as a key factor, if not
the key factor, in controlling an organization.
Undoubtedly, informal conversation is one of the main forms
of communication in virtually all organizations, and
conversation among party members is difficult to control
directly. By skillful use of more formal types of
communication, however, a party can often structure the
content of conversation indirectly. This leads us to
consider the party's access to and control of mass
communications media as the major indicator of controlling
communications and thereby centralizing power within the
organization.

Literature distribution (newspapers,
magazines, party documents) and electronic broadcasts
(radio, television) constitute the two major types of mass
communication, with the latter being somewhat more "mass"
than the former. Despite the increasing use of electronic
broadcasts as a mass communications technique, especially in
countries with low literacy rates, the newspaper maintains
its position as the main vehicle for party
communication. Therefore in considering the control of party
communications we look first and foremost at the party
press.

From the standpoint of centralization
of power, our concern with controlling communications is the
level of the party that controls the content and
distribution of party newspapers (or other form of
communication, if relevant). Apart from the most
decentralized situation which obtains when the party has no
mass communications media of any kind, we regard the control
of party press by local organizations (defined as
constituency/ municipal/county/commune or lower) as a main
condition for decentralization of power. Power is
centralized, however, if the national press is considered to
be "influential" either in the sense of being widely read
across the country by party members and nonmembers alike or
intensively and closely read only by party
members.

Operational Definition. These
criteria of (1) existence of facilities for mass
communication, (2) the locus of control within the party
over publication of information, and (3) the "influence" of
the communication are incorporated into the following scale.
The higher the score, the greater the degree of
centralization.

0

The party
controls no important communications media at
any level.

1

Local
organizations control the media without
censorship from the national organization; the
media are regarded as "influential."

2

Regional
organizations control the media without
censorship from the national organization; the
media are regarded as "influential."

3

Either local
or regional organizations control the media
without national censorship, but the media are
not regarded as influential.